Sunday, May 8, 2011

A town resident admitted to police he has an illegal immigration status after police responded to a dispute about car ownership Tuesday afternoon.

Police said a second man -- who had been recently released from jail -- went to retrieve his Honda Civic from a friend, identified by police as Oscar Israel Cruz,, 22, of 16 St. Roch Ave. The formerly incarcerated man, whom police did not name, had given the Civic to Cruz for safekeeping while the man served jail time.

Police said a dispute erupted at 623 W. Putnam Ave. when Cruz refused to give the car back.

After police were called to the scene, they discovered Cruz, a Mexican citizen, had allegedly forged documents in order to register the car in his own name. Cruz admitted to police he does not have legal residency in the United States and did not have proper identification to register the car legally.

Cruz was charged with second-degree forgery and interfering with an officer.

He is being held in custody for a May 4 appearance in state Superior Court in Stamford. U.S. Customs and Immigration officials were notified of the case.